Pexels is a platform for high quality stock photos you can use for free.

Our Favorite Photos of Everyone’s Favorite Color

No one is quite sure why, but surveys show that blue tends to take home the prize for universally popular color. Across countries and age ranges, blue is a crowd-pleasing shade. Maybe it’s because we see it so often when we look up to the sky. Or perhaps blue still feels special because of the long and fascinating history of blue dyes, which were once very difficult to produce.

Blue seems to be a popular color among Pexels photographers, too. When we asked creators to submit images in shades of blue for our latest photo challenge, we saw an incredible response. Photographers shared beautiful shots of everything from turquoise oceans to blue-lit city streets.

Our winning photo, by São Paulo photographer Raphael Brasileiro, stood out for its unique attention to detail and texture. But we loved so many of the blue images submitted to this challenge that we decided to share a few more of our favorites with you.

Find some more of the best (and free to use!) Shades of Blue images in this special collection, and check out our latest challenges for a chance to share your own photography with us.